NEW YORK - JUNE 03: The 2 Live Crew perform onstage at the 2010 Vh1 Hip Hop Honors at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 3, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
The founding member of 2 Live Crew, Fresh Kid Ice, has died at the age of 53.
According to TMZ, he died this morning, and it was confirmed by his manager that he’d been in the hospital for a “medical condition.”
Chris Wong Won, Fresh Kid Ice’s real name, helped pioneer a place for Asian rappers, and stirred up some controversy that lead to a First Amendment rights battle with the government for their song “As Nasty As They Wanna Be,” which was deemed “obscene” according to TMZ.
He also founded his own record label, Chinaman Records.
There’s starting to be condolences tweeted out to Fresh Kid Ice’s family, and we will keep you updated once we find out the cause of death and any other arising information.